Jonathan Papelbon believes he has the secret to future success

FORT MYERS, Fla. ‘ Jonathan Papelbon can remember the exact moment he made the commitment to his new pitch.

‘I remember being in Yankee Stadium, throwing a few of them to [Mark] Teixeira and one to [Derek] Jeter,’ the Red Sox closer said. ‘I remember throwing one to Jeter and he check-swung. He got the call ‘ even though it was a strike ‘ but I remember him specifically looking at me and looking like he was thinking, ‘Where did that come from?’ From then on I said I am going to start using this pitch any time, all the time.’

The pitch Papelbon refers to his is slider, and he insists it will be a difference-maker this season.

‘This is the most confident I’ve felt about a breaking pitch,’ he said. ‘It’s right where I want it to be. I’m going to throw it as much as my split. I’ll have three pitches I can throw from 0-0, to 3-2.’

Last season, Papelbon threw the pitch 111 times, compared to the 202 occasions he utilized his back-up plan pitch, the splitter. Against the slider, hitters managed a .154 batting average, compared to a .240 clip vs. the split.

The closer didn’t unleash any sliders in his first spring training outing, in which the reliever threw just six pitches. But he has been breaking it out on a regular basis during his bullpen sessions.

They have been practice pitches his fellow relievers have taken note of.

‘We throw every day so I see a lot of it,’ said Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard. ‘It seemed at times he would get on the side of it and it would have that Frisbee action and it wasn’t an effective pitch for him. The one he’s throwing this year, I don’t know if he’s gripping it different, but it’s got depth, it’s late. It looks like a plus pitch the way he’s throwing it right now. It looks like something has changed a little bit. It’s a later and sharper pitch than it was last year.’

It wasn’t as if Papelbon didn’t have a slider in his repertoire before. In ‘09 he threw the pitch 107 times, it was just that hitters managed a .273 batting average when facing it. And he also had integrated into his arsenal during his days as a starter, both in the minors and then briefly in spring training of ‘07.

But this time, according to Papelbon, it’s going to be different.

‘I had a good slider. I had an awesome slider,’ he said. ‘I was throwing a slider, I was throwing it a lot, but then I stopped throwing it for four years. You lose the feel for it. I’m excited about it.’